At the one hand, with ever increasing traffic, to see and to been seen is one of the most important safety precautions. Especially for vulnerable road users traveling in close proximity of fast vehicles, such as cyclers, being seen is taught to be very important for avoiding injury risks.
Clearly when cycling between cars, the cyclers head or helmet is noticed first by other road users, and the use of colorful helmets has proven a good auxiliary to be seen by other road users, over and above demands and the flexibility required from the fashion industry. Being seen becomes even more important in weather conditions such as rain or heavy winds, wherein sight is generally more restricted than with clear skies.
On the other hand, it should be equally acknowledged that, in rainy conditions, a classical cycling helmet with through-holes is uncomfortable and inconvenient as the rain wets the cyclers head.
To address the above needs, cyclist helmet covers have been proposed. U.S. Pat. No. 6,332,228 describes a helmet with removable helmet cover having at least two engaging members at the interior of the cover configured to engage in through-holes in the helmet for the fixation of the cover to the helmet.
An inconvenient of the known helmet cover is that due to the dome structure of the helmet and helmet cover, the engaging members of the cover can only be introduced in the through-holes for fixation in one specific manner by first fixing a rear engaging member and subsequently the front engaging member. As a consequence, the helmet cover needs to be removed in a reverse order of movement.
Removing the helmet cover while cycling is therefore difficult as first disengaging the front engaging member will allow air to flow under the helmet cover, thereby lifting the cover and entirely removing the helmet cover from the helmet. In case the cycler has no good grip on the cover, the cover risks to be lost and might hinder and endanger other road users.
Another inconvenient of the known cover is that in a fixed position of the cover, wind tends to flow between the covers edges and the helmet, thereby reducing the aerodynamics of the helmet and creating turbulences at the covers edges resulting in a hindering noise.
It is clear from the above that there remains a demand for optimization of helmet covers, which allows meeting the above needs and drawbacks, especially regarding easy and flexible removal and equally being aerodynamic.
In summary, the present invention meets the general demand for stimulating vulnerable road users such as cyclers to wear helmets for increasing safety, thereby providing easily removable helmet covers with differentiating fashion prints, allows people to easily personalize their helmets, without deteriorating the impact resistance and other safety characteristics of the helmet. Individual designs and adaptability of the helmets outer occurrence stimulates wearing helmets which, in combination with comfortable and safe handling of the helmet with cover, improves overall safety and protection of cyclers.